The Landlady
by renrenren3
Summary: Sherlock and John, from Mrs Hudson's point of view.


Most days, Mrs Hudson is quite happy to have Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson living in her upstairs flat. They're a polite, upright young couple and, considering, they don't give her too much trouble. With the people you see around nowadays, she could have found much worse tenants.

Mrs Hudson prides herself for being open-minded and progressive and doesn't care at all about Mrs Turner next door who keeps saying it's immoral for two men to live together like that. Mrs Hudson really doesn't want to hear that kind of talk from Mary Turner, who changed husbands as often as other people change a pair of shoes. As far as she's concerned, two men can do whatever they want in the privacy of their own home.

Yes, she would prefer if John found himself a good girl like Sarah, but that's only so he'd stop spending all of his time running around chasing criminals with Sherlock. He is an invalid, after all, and it can't be healthy for him to strain his leg like that. Though she hasn't seen him walking with his cane lately, so maybe he's recovering. It's strange that he should recover better while he's running around instead of staying put and getting some rest, but he's a doctor so he should know best. It's probably one of those newfangled therapies that she'll never properly understand.

Her tenants get quite a lot of visitors, particularly Sherlock. It's a varied crowd, going from posh women in cocktail dresses to some men she wouldn't want to meet alone in a dark alley, but all of them are very polite when she meets them on the stairs. It's not surprising - getting Sherlock to take an interest in their cases must be hard enough, the least they could do is show some manners towards his landlady. Not that she's not perfectly capable of fending off for herself, but she's happy she doesn't have to.

The Detective Inspector from Scotland Yard comes most often of them all, and even though he always seems to be in a hurry he makes a point of asking Mrs Hudson about her hip and never says no to a cup of tea. Because Mrs Hudson has always got a pot of tea ready, along with a steady supply of biscuits, and poor Inspector Lestrade looks as if he could do with a good meal.

The same goes for Sherlock, who's so thin he probably skips a good lot of meals too, but Mrs Hudson knows that she can count on John to make sure that the man doesn't starve himself to death. And when they're really, really busy with some of their cases, Mrs Hudson isn't above fixing them some soup or a nice side of meat for their tea. As long as it doesn't become a habit because she's definitely not their housekeeper.

Aside from this, there are very few drawbacks to having Sherlock and John upstairs. There's the occasional gunshot or explosion, but Mrs Hudson is getting used to that and her heart doesn't jump quite as much as it used to. She's also quickly learning not to ask about the foul-smelling stains on the carpet or the bottles lined in the kitchen and not to try to examine them closely.

Fortunately Mrs Hudson had met Sherlock Holmes a long time ago and she knew what to expect when he moved in. She's taken away all of the pieces of furniture she was particularly attached to, so she isn't bothered in the least when she discovered that Sherlock has dismantled the cupboard for some reason or other. She has already realized that, should John and Sherlock leave for some reason, she'll have to do some heavy remodeling. The bullet holes in the wall are the worst part, but she can probably cover them with a picture or a large photo.

In turn, it's handy to have a doctor living upstairs. Not that Mrs Hudson is quite so old that she needs constant care, but John is a reassuring presence. And, of course, no criminal in England would dare to come within a five miles radius of Baker Street. After living with a serial killer for a good ten years or so, she can finally feel safe in her own home.

So, even when the bomb goes off, Mrs Hudson doesn't bat an eyelid. She fetches her coat and goes outside to join the crowd of idlers and onlookers and waits for the police to arrive. There's a girl next to her who looks as if she's on the verge of tears, she moved in the house across the road just last week.

Mrs Hudson tells her not to worry, dearie, the police will be here soon. Suggests they get a cup of tea together. You know, the man living here, he's the famous Sherlock Holmes. The detective. Come along now, there's a good girl. You don't have to worry, Sherlock will catch whoever did this.

And, as always, he does.


End file.
